Vaporization apparatus having rotatable hub and tubular members for the passage of distilland

ABSTRACT

AN APPARTUS FOR VAPORIZATION OF A LIQUID WHICH CONTAINS ELEMENTS WHICH CANNOT BE SEPARATED IN LIQUID PHASE. THE APPARATUS INCLUDES MEANS FOR FORMING A VAPOR CARRYING THE ELEMENTS AND MEANS FOR SEPARATING THE ELEMENTS FROM THE VAPOR AT THE OUTLET OF THE APPARATUS WHEREBY DEPOSITS OF THE ELEMENTS ARE NOT FOMRED IN THE AREA WHREA VAPORIZATION OCCURS.

8 l 6 t e A M MW 5 98 MW T .n D S 1D MN A BL March 14, 1972 BECHARD AL VAPOHI'LMION APPARATUS HAVING R TABLE HU MEMBERS FOR THE PASSAGE OF DISTIL Filed March 24, 1969 IN VENTORS E/i/f/LE HEM/4 50 Va/mi' Manley M M, iwt -LMM A rryl.

March 14, 1972 BECHARD ETAL 3,649,468

VAPURIZALION APPARATUS HAVING ROTATABLE HUB AND TUBULAR MEMBERS FOR THE PASSAGE OF DISTILLAND Filed March 24, 1969 8 Sheets-Sheet 2 ULAR March 14, 1972 BECHARD EI'AL VAPORIZATLON' APPARATUS HAVING ROTATABLE HUB AND TUB MEMBERS FOR THE PASSAGE OF DISTILLAND Filed March 24. L969 8 Sheets-Sheet 5 FIG? March 14, 1972 BECHARD ETAL 3,649,468

VAPUM'LAILUN APPARATUS HAVING ROTATABLE HUB AND TUBULAR MEMBERS FOR THE PASSAGE OE DISTILLAND Filed March 24. 1969 8 Sheets-Sheet 4 8 Sheets-Sheet 5 E. BECHARD ET AL MEMBERS FOR THE PASSAGE OF DISTILLAND VA FUR l'LAL'lON APPARATUS HAVING ROTATABLE HUB AND TUBULAR March 14, 1972 Filed March 24,

FIG. IO

March 14, 1972 BECHARD ETAL VAPURIZATION APPARATUS HAVING ROTATABLE HUB AND TUBULAR MEMBERS FOR THE PASSAGE OF DISTILLAND 8 Sheets-Sheet 6 Filed March 24, 1969 E. BECHARD ETAL 3,649,463 APPARATUS HAVING ROTATABLE HUB AND TUBULAR 131385 FOR THE PASSAGE OF DISTILLAND 8 SheetsSheet 7 Filed March 24, 1969 3,649,468 TUBULAR March 14, 1972 BECHARD ETAL VAPORIZATION APPARATUS HAVING ROTATABLE HUB AND MEMBERS FOR THE PASSAGE OF DISTILLAND 8 Sheets-Sheet 8 Filed March 24, 1969 MUFF N United States Patent C VAPORIZATION APPARATUS HAVING ROTAT- ABLE HUB AND TUBULAR MEMBERS FOR THE PASSAGE F DISTILLAND Emile Bechard and Veuve Maurey, both of 753 Boulevard Brune, F5, Paris 14C, France Filed Mar. 24, 1969, Ser. No. 809,873 Int. Cl. Bflld 3/08 US. Cl. 202-235 17 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE An apparatus for vaporization of a liquid which contains elements which cannot be separated in liquid phase. The apparatus includes means for forming a vapor carrying the elements and means for separating the elements from the vapor at the outlet of the apparatus whereby deposits of the elements are not formed in the area where vaporization occurs.

Methods to separate a liquid from dissoluted or suspended elements as salt, silt, colloids or the like, which cannot be separated from the liquid in liquid phase through filtration or contrifugation, are known. In a very simple method, the elements dissolved or in suspension remain in the evaporators or are extracted therefrom separated from the liquid, which is gathered in the form of vapor disencumbered of its foreign elements and condensed to procure a purified liquid.

An apparatus using the process of evaporation comprises, in general, serpentine tubes in the interior or at the exterior of a tank in which evaporation is achieved, these serpentine tubes presenting the inconvenience of having the solid elements, in solution or suspension, depositing themselves on the walls, thus leading to scaling and corroding of said walls.

A more advanced method used for the desalinization of water uses the process of vaporization of the water bearing the salt in solution, whereby the separation is accomplished in vapor phase at the outlet of the apparatus by filtration, cyclonic separation, or centrifugation, thus avoiding any deposit at the serpentine where the evaporation is accomplished.

A fast rotating serpentine is placed in a heated enclosure whereby the heating fluid circulates in inverse direction to the motion of the liquid to be vaporized.

The serpentine in the known apparatus comprises a tubular vessel with transverse partitioning members dividing the interior of the tubular vessel into a plurality of adjacent axially aligned compartments.

In the invention of this application, the serpentine is made of U-shaped elements fixed upon an element of a hollow hub dragged along in fast rotation, whereby this hub element includes two compartments, one being an inlet and one being an outlet compartment, one of the extremities of the U branches being connected to the entrance compartment, the other extremity of the branch of the U being connected to the exit compartment.

According to the size of the installation, several elements of hubs are juxtaposed and assembled to one another either by strings or straps or by bridles, the exit compartment of one hub element communicating with the entrance compartment of the following element. The hub assembly is supported and dragged along in rotation by a common main driving shaft rotatably mounted upon blocks, the entrance and exit portions of said shaft being hollow and connected to feeding means of the liquid to be vaporized and to evacuation means for evacuation of the vaporized fluid, respectively.

ice

In the case of an installation of large dimension, the compartments at the entrance and exit of the hub elements are replaced by circular gullets made in the peripheric portion of the hub, of which the central portion is bored for the passage of the main driving shaft for the dragging along.

Because of the progressive vaporization and dilatation of the fluid while flowing from the entrance to the exit, resulting from the progressive temperature increase within the tubes of constant cross section, because of the inverse direction of the heating fluid circulation, there is a much higher flow speed at the outflow than at the inflow.

Because the heating fluid circulating in inverse direction to the liquid to be vaporized, the return branch of the U receives more calories than the other branch, the gas-fluid mixture therefore has a smaller density in the return branch of the U and tends to assume a higher speed in direction to the rotation axis. Centrifugal force in the entrance branch and centripetal force in the return branch of the U work in the opposite direction, enhancing the speed in the entrance branch and reducing the speed in the return branch, thus insuring a continuous increase of the outflow speed.

The supply in liquid to be vaporized is chosen to secure the necessary exchange in calories between the heating fluid and the liquid to be vaporized, so that a continuous function is maintained, whereby the volume of supply by the feeding pump assures a pressure sufficient to augment the loading charges.

In the apparatus of the invention, the feeding volume of the pump must be such that the dragging-along of the elements carried by the vapor is also assured in that U- branch where the vapor returns to the hub, where the centrifugal force exercises against the carrying force originating from the feeding pump pressure.

The frictions inside of the tube are reduced because the part of the liquid in contact with the wall vaporizes and consequently are higher and assume an increased outflow speed, while the solid elements carried by the flow remain in the central part of the tube at a basically constant speed which is that caused by the feeding pump. Therefore, these solid elements are not coming into contact with the wall to deposit themselves thereon.

The known apparatus has the disadvantage that the tubular vessel and the extending tubular members are one piece and therefore diflicult to repair in case that some tubular members or parts of the tubular vessel become defective.

It is an object of this invention to avoid this disadvantage by using an assembly of a plurality of hubs, thus forming a rotatable shaft assembly. Besides the easy production and assembly of the shaft assembly, maintenance of the structure is easily and rapidly accomplished by dismounting defective parts and exchanging them with new or repaired parts.

It is another object of this invention to provide different forms of tubes, hubs and connections therebetween, not disclosed in the prior art.

The details of the invention will appear from the description in reference to the drawings, in which FIG. 1 is a longitudinal view of a simple hub element with two compartments and a side plate mounted thereon;

FIG. 2 is a longitudinal view of an assembly of two hub elements assembled by bridles;

FIG. 3 is an end view of a sheaf of eight tubes in U- form;

FIG. 4 illustrates an alternative tube arrangement;

FIG. 5 shows a transverse view of the construction of FIG. 3 with three rows of tubes;

FIGS. 6 and 7 illustrate a sheaf of eight tubes;

FIG. 8 is a longitudinal cut of an alternative hub element;

FIG. 10' isa longitudinal view of an element or hub' of even greater dimension, of which the two compartments are made by circular gullets bored into the peripheric portion;

FIG. 11 is a transverse view cut of the element of FIG. 10;

FIG. 12 is a longitudinal view of a hub of large dimension;

FIG. 13 is an end view of the hub of FIG. 12;

FIG. 14 is a longitudinal view of another hub element;

FIG. 15 is an end view of the hub of FIG. 14;

FIG. 16 is a longitudinal view of a hub element with tilted tubes;

FIG. 117 shows the assembly of a tube and a hub by external soldering;

FIG. 18 shows the assembly of a tube and a hub by exterior and interior soldering;

FIG. 19 shows an assembly of a hub with a tube having a reinforcement;

FIG. 20 shows the assembly of a hub and a shouldered tube with an exterior bolt;

FIG. 21 shows the assembly of a hub having a projecting base tube upon which a shouldered hub is mounted by a capscrew;

FIG. 22 shows a shouldered tube fixed upon the hub by an interior bolt;

FIGS. 23 and 2 4 show the assembly of the tube upon the hub by bridges;

FIG. 25 shows the assembly of the tube and the hub through a biconical joint;

FIG. 26 shows the assembly of the tube upon the hub, the extremity of the tube being enlarged and shouldered; and

FIG. 27 is a longitudinal view of the whole heat exchanger vaporizer with its accessories.

In these figures, and with special reference to FIGS. 1 and 2, 1 is a simple hub with entrance compartment and exit compartment 6, obturated by side plates 2 at the ends of the hub assembly, hubs and plates assembled with ties 3 traversing the separating wall 7 between the two compartments through borings 4 and axially mounted on a main shaft AA. Upon the hub element 1 are fixed tubes 8. Two hub elements may be assembled by bridles on flanges 9. The water tightness between two hub elements 1 or hub element 1 and side plate 2 is secured by joint 101.

The compartment entrance 5 and exit 6 of the same hub 1 are only communicating through the tubes 8, said tubes being possibly established by one or several rows of tubes. FIG. 5 presents, for example, an assembly of three rows of tubes. FIG. 3 shows the end view of said assembly with eight tubes or tube rows overlapping one another. FIG. 4 illustrates an alternative tube arrangement.

The water-tightness of the passage of the entraining shaft into the side plates 2 and into the separating wall 7 of the hub compartments is assured by cakurn-presses 102, held by ring 103, said ring rigidly mounted to the separating wall 7 or side plate 2. The tightness between the flanges of two hubs or hub and side plate is assured by joint 101.

FIGS. 6 and 7 show another possible construction of a hub assembly mounted on a main shaft AA by supports or flanges 9 whereby the main shaft is rotatably mounted on blocks 27.

In FIGS. 8, 9, 10 and 11, showing dilferent hub constructions, the compartment entrance and exits 5 and 6 are replaced by circular gullets established in the periphery of the hub, the piercings 4 being reserved for the passage of the assembling ties 3, the chamber of entrance of one element of hub being in communication with the chamber of exit of the element of the hub preceding it.

FIGS. 12 and 13 show a hub construction where the tubes lead to flat circular peripheral compartments. In the same way, in FIGS. 14, 15 and 16, the compartment outlet is in communication with the compartment inlet of the hub element that follows it through the piercings 12, radial piercings 8 being practiced at the periphery of the hub for the tubes.

All the known ways of-fixation of tubes upon the hub may be utilized, either by external soldering 13, as shown in FIG. 17, or by double soldering the exterior 13 and interior 13a as shown in FIG. 18, a reinforcement 15 being eventually foreseen around tube 8, as shown in FIG. 19.

Tube 8 may be dismountable and have a shoulder 15 held in place by an exterior bolt 16 as shown in FIG. 20, or may be held in place by a screw cap 18 to a tube end 17 soldered to the hub 11., as shown in FIG. 21, or yet by a shoulder 19 soldered to the tube and fixed by the interior bolt 20 as is shown in FIG. 22, with the interposition of a joint 21.

The tube can yet be fixed upon the hub 1 with a bridle 22 tightened by screws 23, with interposition of a joint 24, as shown in FIGS. 23 and 24.

Finally, tube 3 may be assembled with hub 1 through bridle 22, the water-tightness upon the hub being assured through the biconical joint 25, in brass for instance, see FIG. 25.

FIG. 26 shows that the assembly between the tube and hub -1 may be obtained through an enlargement 26 given to the tube dudgeonned to resist tearing off.

FIG. 27 shows an assembled heat exchanging vaporizer with four hub elements I mounted on a main driving shaft 40 thus forming a shaft assembly rotatably mounted upon blocks 27 and dragged along by pulley 28, pulley 29 serving a feeding pump (not shown), the main driving shaft having an axial boring 4-1 and being connected to the fixed elements of the installations by water-tight joints of cakum-press 30- with the liquid to be vaporized received at feeding inlet 31 and the outfiowing vapor received at outlet 32, the flow direction indicated by arrows A.

The heating fluid is introduced by inlet 33 by envelope 34 where it is bracked by rotating tubes 8, fumes escaping by chimney 35. The control of functioning is assured by the manometer .37 indicating the pressure of the pump, the temperature being given at 38, and finally a manometer 19 and a safety valve 42 assuring protection against all dangerous over-pressure.

To assure the entrance of the liquid to be treated, the main driving shaft 40 is hollow up to the entrance compartment 5 of the first hub element, the main driving shaft being also hollow upon the exit portion 4-2, to connect the exit compartment 6 of the last element of the hub with the machines exterior.

The description thus given is not limitative, as well as what concerns the number of hubs, the number of tube rows upon each of the hub elements, and the number of tubes in one row.

All known metals can be utilized, depending on the nature of the liquids, on the temperatures and on the pressures to be realized. The dimension, the length of the tubes, take only into account the needs to be met. The nature of the heating fluid is not important, only the calories brought into the circuit in which the tubes are in rotation, are to be taken into account.

Standard control apparatus, thermometer and manometer, fixed or enregistering, allow control of the correct functioning of the whole apparatus. Automatic regulations of the feeding volume or of the heating precisely assure the volume of the outflow in dependence of the nature of the liquid to be treated and the power of heating.

It will be understood that various changes and modifications may be made in the above described invention without departing from the spirit thereof, particularly as defined in the following claims.

That which is claimed is:

1. An apparatus for vaporization of a liquid with elements in solution or suspension therein, comprising a shaft assembly mounted for rotational movement about its axis,

said shaft assembly comprising a main shaft with an entrance boring and an exit boring at the ends of said main shaft and a plurality of hubs mounted axially aligned on said main shaft to a hub assembly, each hub of said hub assembly comprising an inlet and an outlet compartment to allow flow from the outlet compartment of one hub to the inlet compartment of the adjacent hub, the inlet compartment of the hub next to the entrance boring communicating therewith, the outlet compartment of the hub next to the exit boring communicating therewith, a plurality of tubular members extending substantially radially from said hub to allow fluid flow from the inlet compartment to the outlet compartment of said hub, means for introducing liquid and elements therein under positive pressure into said entrance boring for the continuous flow of liquid therethrough and through said hub assembly into said exit boring, and outlet means to receive the vaporized liquid and the elements carried therewith from the exit boring, means for rotating the shaft assembly and tubular members together at high speed whereby centrifugal force is imparted to the liquid during flow outwardly through the tubular members and centripetal force is imparted thereto during flow inwardly through the tubular members, means for heating the shaft assembly and tubular members to a temperature above vaporization temperature for the liquid whereby liquid is gradually converted to vapor during passage through the shaft assembly and tubular members with corresponding increase in volume of material flowing through the passages to effect corresponding increase in flow rate such that the solid elements separating from solution remain suspended within the vapor and flow as a mixture of vapor and solids from the apparatus.

2. An apparatus according to claim 1 wherein the means for heating said rotating shaft assembly and tubular members comprise a housing in which the heating fluid or gas circulates in inverse direction of the motion of the liquid to be vaporized.

3. An apparatus according to claim 1 in which the tubes are substantially U-shaped with respect to the shaft axis direction and are fixed upon an element of a hollow hub dragged along into rotation, and equipped with two compartments which communicate only through the U-shaped tubes, the extremity of one of the U branches being connected to one of the compartments, and the extremity of the other branch of the U being connected to the other compartment.

4. An apparatus according to claim 3 in which the element of the hub is placed in motion in rotation, with a view to determine inside of the tubes in U a phenomena of accelerated convection through centrifugal force, and resulting from the temperature differences between the fluid layer in contact with the wall and the central vein containing the carried-away elements, of which the outflow occurs at a speed determined by the feeding pump, said carried-away elements not entering in contact with the wall.

5. An apparatus according to claim 2 in which the progressive dilatation of the fluid is from the entrance up to the exit, and which results from the circulation in inverse direction of the heating fluid, and determines the increasing of the outflow speed in the serpentine with constant section.

6. An apparatus according to claim 3 in which the volume of supply of the feeding pump in fluid to be vaporized is chosen to assure a continuous function by determining the exchange of calories between heating fluid and liquid to be vaporized, the loss of thrust, and the insutflcient speed for entraining motion of the elements carried in the return branch of the U toward the hub element, in which branch the centrifugal force is exercised in inverse direction of the outflow.

7. -An apparatus according to claim 1 including various hub elements assembled in series by ties or bridles, the entrance compartment of each element communicating with the exit compartment of the preceding element, and the exit compartment of each element communicating with the entrance compartment of the following element.

8. An apparatus according to claim 7 wherein the main driving shaft common to all the hub elements which have ending hollow portions is connected to the feeding means of liquid to be vaporized, and to the evacuation means of the vaporized fluid.

9. An apparatus according to claim 3 in which the entrance and the exit of the hub elements are replaced by annular gullets made in the peripheric portion of the hub.

10. An apparatus according to claim 3 in which the compartment of entrance and of exit of the element of hub, are replaced by piercings longitudinal, made into said hub.

11. An apparatus according to claim 3 in which the compartment of entrance and of exit of the hub element are replaced by curved tubes connecting the serpentines of vaporization to openings made into the flasks of entrance and of exit of the hub element.

12. An apparatus according to claim 3 in which the compartments of the hub element are connected by several rows of U tubes.

13. An apparatus according to claim 3 in which the curve connecting the two branches of a U tube, is elongated to provide the maximum heating surface.

14. An apparatus according to claim 1 for separation from sea water of the various salts it contains.

15. An apparatus according to claim 3 for the separation from diffusion juice of the various elements therein contained.

16. An apparatus according to claim 1 for the cellulose separation from the cooking juices of the straws and the woods.

17. An apparatus according to claim 1 for the treatment of industrial and residual waters.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 615,329 12/1898 Whiteley 159-25 2,230,254 2/1941 Lavigne 203-88 2,643,220 6/1953 Lavigne 202-237 3,369,977 2/1968 Bechard t 203-40 WILBUR L. BASCOMB, JR., Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 

